A federal law enacted last year, which takes effect this coming fall, imposes new requirements on insurers underwriting health insurance for families. “Michelle’s Law” is named for Michelle Morse, a 20-year-old student at Portsmouth State University in New Hampshire who was diagnosed in 2003 with advanced colon cancer. Michelle was covered under her mother’s health insurance, and sought advanced cancer treatment at hospitals in Boston. However, her health insurance coverage was dependent upon her continuing as a full-time student, which would not have been possible with the schedule of treatments she was undergoing. Had she stopped being a full-time student, her family could only have continued health insurance coverage under COBRA at approximately $550 per month, which was not an affordable option. Michelle was thus forced to maintain the course workload of a full-time student while she was undergoing treatment.

Michelle’s mother, Annemarie Morse, began lobbying New Hampshire legislators to enact a law allowing college students who are covered as dependents under group health plans to take a medical leave of absence from school for up to a year and remain covered. The state Legislature passed such a bill, and it was signed into law on June 26, 2006. Tragically, Michelle had passed away on Nov. 10, 2005.

This content has been archived. It is available through our partners, LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law.

To view this content, please continue to their sites.

Not a Lexis Subscriber?
Subscribe Now

Not a Bloomberg Law Subscriber?
Subscribe Now

Why am I seeing this?

LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law are third party online distributors of the broad collection of current and archived versions of ALM's legal news publications. LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law customers are able to access and use ALM's content, including content from the National Law Journal, The American Lawyer, Legaltech News, The New York Law Journal, and Corporate Counsel, as well as other sources of legal information.

For questions call 1-877-256-2472 or contact us at [email protected]